Comparison of body shape features of Kura barbel (Barbus lacerta, Heckel 1834) in Caspian, Tigris and Uremia Lake basins using geometric morphometrics technique

Study of morphological differences between populations of a species can help to better understanding of their ongoing evolutionary process. This study was conducted to study the morphological features of populations of Kura barbel (Barbus lacerta, Heckel 1834)from Caspian Sea, Tigris and Uremia Lake basins using landmark-based geometric morphometric technique. For this purpose, a total number of 160 specimens of Kura barbel were collected from the studying basins. After extracting body shape data in geometric morphometric method, obtained landmark data were superimposed by generalized Procrustes analysis, then analyzed by PCA, CVA with obtained p-value of permutation test and cluster analysis. Deformation patterns of each population was visualized in relation to consensus shape. The results showed a significant differences between studied populations in terms of body shape (P